Standing Fast

Don Harzen at Alternet has an interesting interview with MoveOn. Org co-founders Wes Boyd and Joan Blades. MoveOn.Org has come into more public focus recently for its lobbying effort helping to get the recent Iraq War bill-which calls for a withdrawal date of US troops by 2008- passed through Congress. While for many committed to ending the Iraq war this was an important step, for others it was a sell-out and many of those critics directed their fire right at MoveOn for providing public support to Speaker Peolsi. For example as anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan recently wrote:

"One group closely allied to the Democratic leadership, MoveOn, has used antiwar sentiment to triple both its membership and fundraising, but has been AWOL from antiwar activity; its members are prohibited from demonstrations, and only vigils for the war dead are posted as events on their website. A month ago I wrote that MoveOn began efforts to support "slow bleed" while antiwar forces actively opposed it"

Here's another MoveOn.org critic from the anti-war movement.

Its true that MoveOn.org was one of the few organizations that has been associated with the anti-war movement that not only fully backed Peolsi's bill but actively lobbied Democratic House members to get it passed. MoveOn.org worked very hard for a compromised bill that many other anti-war groups refused to have anything to with. Blades give an excellent justification for her strategy however:

"In a movement working to move forward, everyone plays a different role. Some organizations and leaders will demand nothing less than an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of U.S. troops. And that's a crucial part of the movement. It keeps us grounded in the real goal of all this -- bringing an end to the horror in Iraq. Not only will we always respect and support our friends who do that, it's a crucial source of pressure.

Others will help mobilize to show a unified front defying the President. We need toconnect a movement stretching from Cindy Sheehan to Nancy Pelosi. This is a tough new challenge. And given that most of the folks on the MoveOn list basically want to support the Democratic majority in moving forward ... When Democrats do move forward, this connection role partly falls to us.

Most MoveOn members, like ourselves, will embrace both these roles, at different times. Push like mad for the occupation to end, and then pivot to support broad political unity, when it's justified."

While not perfect, MoveOn.org is an excellent example of a grassroots movement that is trying seriously to deal with an inside/out strategy that is trying to balance the idealism and activism of its members with the realities of building a political coalition among disparate political forces-including those in power-in order to make changes in the power. Maneuvering without a political goal or ideal (or an accountable grassroots) will lead to useless compromises, but idealism and program without any ability to show political flexibility or go beyond mere protest will lead to impotence. Its refreshing to hear two leading progressives openly express both the challenges and opportunities they face in trying to carry out such a strategy. For a long time the left-probably since the 70's- has been forced to accept the option of lesser-evilism and political capitulation or sticking with isolated protest politics. For the first time in a long time we are seeing the emergence of progressive coalition politics in this country. Read the interview and see how.